I received this email from Asian American Journalists Association president Doris Truong at 9:14 p.m. Saturday: “Thought this would be of interest, especially coming within one week of Roland Martin’s tweets that led to his suspension from CNN.”

Dear Mr. Whitlock:

Where do we begin?

Let’s start by saying that your tweet in the midst of the Jeremy Lin hoopla was inappropriate on so many levels.

Jason Whitlock

Certainly, it doesn’t hold up to the conduct of responsible journalists, those in sports or otherwise, who adhere to standards of fairness, civility and good taste. Nor does it meet the standards of Fox Sports, with which you are associated.

Outrage doesn’t begin to describe the reaction of the Asian American Journalists Association (AAJA) to your unnecessary and demeaning tweet of Feb. 10 after the New York Knicks played the Los Angeles Lakers: “Some lucky lady in NYC is gonna feel a couple of inches of pain tonight.”

Let’s not pretend we don’t know to what you were referring. The attempt at humor – and we hope that is all it was – fell flat. It also exposed how some media companies fail to adequately monitor the antics of their high-profile representatives. Standards need to be applied – by you and by Fox Sports.

The offensive tweet debased one of sports’ feel-good moments, not just among Asian Americans but for so many others who are part of your audience.

Where do we go from here? How about an apology, Mr. Whitlock.

Sincerely,

AAJA MediaWatch

A second email from Truong arrived at 12:02 a.m. Sunday: “Update! He has apologized.”

Whitlock wrote:

I got caught up in the excitement. I tweeted about what a great story Lin is and how he could rival Tim Tebow.

I then gave in to another part of my personality — my immature, sophomoric, comedic nature. …As the Asian American Journalist Association pointed out, I debased a feel-good sports moment. For that, I’m truly sorry.